Nyck de Vries, a Formula 1 driver for AlphaTauri, is facing a legal dispute with a Dutch businessman, Jeroen Schothorst, who has taken him to court over an alleged failure to repay a loan.
As reported by Dutch media, Schothorst claims that de Vries failed to honor an agreement to repay a €250,000 loan that was given in 2018 to fund his move to Formula 2 with Italian team Prema.
The loan agreement included an interest rate of 3% per year and Schothorst also claimed 50% of de Vries’ income from F1-related activities.
The dispute reportedly centers around the timing of when de Vries should be considered an “F1 driver,” with the agreement stating that repayments would be waived if he was not an F1 driver by 2022. However, with de Vries serving as Mercedes’ reserve driver and making a substitute appearance for Williams, Schothorst argues that the loan repayment agreement remains active. De Vries has made repayments to Schothorst totaling €190,000, but his lawyer claims that the initial agreement is no longer in place. Schothorst is now seeking to claim half of de Vries’ salary from AlphaTauri/Red Bull for the 2023 season.